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Chasing the ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’ in Delft

His hometown itself was Vermeer’s muse, and it doesn't take a stroke of artistic genius to see why.

Johannes Vermeer's 17th-century "Girl with a Pearl Earring" is his most famous work. (File / Photo)

The Vermeer room at the Hotel de Emauspoort is a thematic tribute to Delft's most famous inhabitant: 17th-century painter Johannes Vermeer. (Reb Stevenson photo / For the Toronto Star)

Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer was a master of light, producing portraits with photorealistic realistic qualities. His muse was none other than his hometown, Delft. (Reb Stevenson photo / For the Toronto Star)

The town itself was his muse, and it doesn’t take a stroke of artistic genius to see why: peaceful canals, elegant brown row houses and a central square that makes a man feel like an ant.

Vermeer is dubbed “the master of light,” his forte capturing middle-class people near windows with a photorealistic touch.

Photorealism? Try eyeball realism. That’s what you get at The Hotel de Emauspoort, a 350-year-old building situated on a quiet street behind Delft’s “new” church (built oh-so recently in 1381). The star suite at this friendly, family-run hotel is The Vermeer Room.

“We tried to make a bit of atmosphere that Vermeer tasted himself,” explains owner Jeroen Struyk.

For decorating cues, Struyk turned not to the Ikea catalogue but Vermeer’s own paintings: checkered flooring, a chair with carved lion heads on the arms, an antique globe, and so on. Dozens of Vermeer prints hitch a ride on the walls, and one of the most charming touches is a copy of Vermeer’s “Girl in a Red Hat” lounging on an easel. It was painted by Struyk’s father.

It strikes me as the perfect thematic crash pad for a family: while parents doze downstairs on a queen bed, kids will especially enjoy scrambling up the ladder to two beds in the loft.

Speaking of family, this structure has been in Struyk’s since 1922, enjoying a fragrant life as a bakery before he transformed it into a hotel 15 years ago. A few nods to that heritage remain: home-baked bread and croissants are served at breakfast, and there is a “Baker’s Room” featuring a headboard fashioned from vintage cookie moulds.

The other rooms are named after famous Dutch folk, for example William of Orange and Antonie Van Leeuwenhoek, the father of microbiology.

Struyk saved the courtyard for his childhood fantasies, installing two gypsy caravans and renting them to guests.

“When I was little, there was a series on TV called Pipo de Clown. He travelled through the Netherlands in a caravan and had all these adventures,” he says. “That stayed in my mind.”

Pipo’s caravan gives many Dutch travellers a shot of nostalgia. But overall, Pipo is no match for Vermeer in the popularity department.

“He’s the main celebrity in Delft,” says Struyk.

The Vermeer Centrum, just a few steps from the hotel, does a remarkably good job of stretching the atom of Vermeer history into a three-floor extravaganza. There are no original paintings on site, however (for those you should head to Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum and Mauritshuis in The Hague).

A nearly free (one euro for the guide pamphlet) “Vermeer Cube Walk” around the city offers a lot of the same facts mounted on rotating blocks.

Vermeer is buried in the Old Church, but, quite frankly, you’re more likely to contemplate your own demise when you look up at its enormous tower: it is giving Pisa a run for its money by leaning two metres.

The next time the hefty church bells ring will likely be Queen Beatrix’s death, Annemarie Meyer, who works in the church, tells me. And they’ve got it all under control (the tower tumble? Naaaah!) but just to be safe, she definitely won’t be working that day.

Of course, a visit to Delft would be incomplete without a pilgrimage to Royal Delft, purveyor of Holland’s signature blue-and-white pottery.

There’s a lot of fake Delft kitsch kicking around Holland (not to mention North American thrift stores), but Royal Delft is the real deal, endorsed by grandmothers everywhere.

Royal Delft was established during Vermeer’s lifetime — in 1653 to be precise — and shot to fame for duplicating china patterns from the Orient.

Everything is still hand-painted on site (hence the large plate costs a whopping 500 euro), and the museum is surprisingly engaging and updated. For instance, who knew Royal Delft made a plate commemorating the 1969 moon landing?

So what was the Girl with a Pearl Earring hopelessly yearning for? I can’t say for sure, but I think I saw the same expression on a few faces in the Royal Delft gift shop.

Reb Stevenson is a Toronto-based writer. Her trip was subsidized by The Netherlands Board of Tourism and Conventions. She can be reached through her website at www.rebstevenson.com.

JUST THE FACTS

GETTING THERE: Delft is an hour Southwest of Amsterdam and easily accessible by train.

ATTRACTIONS: A Vermeer Combi Ticket (14.50 euro) is available from the Tourist Information Point in Delft. It includes admission to the Vermeer Centrum, Museum Het Prinsenhof and the New and Old Churches, plus a free coffee and cake.

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